ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes changes in cooperative and reciprocal social capital in rural Japan. In particular it asks for the efficiency of rural development programs by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). By using two rounds of an identical questionnaire survey that was used in the same rural communities in 2006 and 2016, this chapter provides a unique insight into changes of social capital and their relation to various forms of interventionist policy. Our analysis indicates a long-term downward trend in social capital that is notably slowed down in regions that benefitted from land improvement projects, direct payments, and irrigation and drainage projects. The analysis indicated that all in all these programs had little effect on improving social capital in large-scale communities but were more successful in smaller communities of less than 100 households. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) explained the sustainability of rural social capital, or lack thereof, when cooperative and reciprocal social capital interact with each other and a variety of independent variables, including community size, policy-based intervention and past social capital levels.
